


a man sees in the world what he carries in his heart

by SinnohRemakes



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Anxiety, Depression, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Persona 5 Protagonist Has A Palace, Singing, Slow Burn, Velvet Stage Palace AU, complicated feelings, futaba casually stalks her friends and they're all just chill with it, gratuitous amounts of food, gratuitous amounts of symbolism, gratuitous amounts of symbolism in regards to food, if i don't make akechi cry at least once then i've failed as a content creator, no beta reader we just die, you'd think with how fast ryuji runs he wouldn't get caught in this slow of a burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2020-10-21 11:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20692526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SinnohRemakes/pseuds/SinnohRemakes
Summary: If you wear a mask long enough, you'll find it's hard to take it off. Especially when everyone seems to like said mask so much. What's the price of being genuine when you have so much to lose?Or, "Complicated Feelings and Trying to Deal With Them," a stage play Akira doesn't even realize he's starring in. Luckily, his friends are onstage with him.





	1. every fool's journey starts with a magician (Morgana)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yee HAW i'm very sleeby
> 
> Some chapters are gonna be more character-centric, some are gonna be general! It'll be indicated in the chapter titles. I'm kinda rusty with writing so hopefully this'll help me get back in shape lmao

Their Shibuya meetup spot hadn’t changed much.

…which is to say, it was still boring as hell.

Morgana yawned as he stretched out on the metal railing, watching the crowd flow by as usual. Yusuke had shown up at some point, but had wandered off again just as quickly, intending to people-watch until everyone arrived. Ann had stopped petting Morgana after he almost fell off the rail in his relaxation, much to his regret, opting instead to scroll through her social media feed. She’d picked up Futaba before heading over, who was now crouched under Morgana and typing away rapidly on her laptop. Ryuji had plopped down next to her just a few minutes later, bag of half-price jagariko cups in hand, and was now watching the hacker’s screen with confused interest.

“Hey, hey, cool it with the snacking! These are supposed to be for everyone!” A shuffling sound from below caught Morgana’s attention. Ryuji had moved the jagariko out of Futaba’s reach – from the looks of it, she’d already managed to burn through three of the containers.

“I’m part of everyone, gimme!”

Morgana took a moment to lean down and bat at Ryuji’s head. His words lacked heat when he spoke, just wanting to annoy the blond some more. “Where are _my_ snacks, huh?”

“Don’t act like you can’t eat jagariko too!”

Ann seemed to take notice of the snacks finally, eyes lighting up. With how Ryuji was holding the bag away from Futaba, she was able to grab one with ease. “Oh, are these the sweet baked potato kind? Awesome!”

“Yeah, I figured it’d help keep Yusuke from goin’ through them at the speed of light. But _apparently_ he ain’t the one I should’ve been worried about!” Ryuji groused, settling back down. He kept the snacks on the opposite side of him from Futaba, much to the girl’s annoyance.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. It’s been a while since we last met up here, hasn’t it?”

Morgana perked up as Makoto approached, Haru in tow. She was right – even though it’d only been a few months at best, their infiltration of Kaneshiro’s Palace felt lifetimes away. He purred as Haru gently petted his head in greeting.

“This is where you used to hold meetings?” The heiress asked, peering around curiously. With the brief look he’d gotten into her life, Morgana knew she wasn’t very familiar with the station layout; she had a chauffeur, after all. “It’s very…open.”

Morgana couldn’t help but puff up a bit in pride. “All the better, right? No one would expect Phantom Thieves to be scheming in broad daylight.”

“Plus, Ms. Prez here had to kick us out of our first hideout ’cuz of school policy. They didn’t want students up on the roof after, uh…y’know.”

“Oh…”

“Well…that aside, are we all here? Are we just waiting for Yusuke now?”

“Ooh, right, I’ll let him know to head back.” Ann switched over to their shared messaging app, typing swiftly.

“Think it might be better to just go get him in-person. Y’know how he gets.”

“He wouldn’t ignore me, I’m his favorite.”

“_Pretty_ sure Akira’s his favorite–”

Ann rolled her eyes. If it weren’t for the bag of jagariko in the way, she might’ve tried kicking at him in mock-anger. “His favorite _aside_ from Akira. You know what I mean! Anyway, Yusuke’s on his way.”

Sure enough, it only took a few minutes for their wayward friend to rejoin the group. His sketchbook was still flipped to the page he’d been working on, rife with rough figure sketches. “Hello, everyone. Thank you for your patience.”

“See~? Told you he wouldn’t ignore me.”

Ryuji stuck his tongue out at Ann as Yusuke _hmm_ed in confusion, glancing between the two of them. Before the artist could ask what she’d meant by that, Morgana sat up fully on the rail, regarding his fellow Thieves. “Since we’re all here now, let’s cut to the chase.”

“I presume this has to do with Akira, seeing as he is not present?” Yusuke still managed to query, choosing to join Ryuji and Futaba on the ground for once. Having easy access to the jagariko was most important at the moment, judging by the way his stomach growled. “I haven’t been keeping up with the group chat, my apologies.”

“Dude, seriously?”

“The whole point of being in a group chat is to actually _check it_ occasionally, Inari–”

“When inspiration strikes, an artist must be ready to react accordingly!”

“_In that case_, let’s review what we know so far first.” Makoto, blessed be her flawless ‘teacher voice’, brought the group to order. “According to Morgana, he’s been going to sleep earlier and waking up later. He hasn’t been having nightmares or any other sleep interruptions that would cause this change. He’s also been eating less; although he’ll eat when prompted, he hasn’t been actively seeking out food as much as he ought to.”

“I got him to go see Takemi, too, but she said he was in perfect health.” Morgana added. Really, if it wasn’t for the woman’s track record, he would’ve pressed for Akira to see another just in case. As it stood, though, the woman was both a kickass doctor _and_ in on Akira’s double life, so if she said he was healthy, then he most likely was.

“Right. Does anyone have any ideas as to what may be causing these issues?”

Ryuji rubbed the back of his neck. A shadow of something flickered across his face before he spoke, gone too quick for Morgana to put a name too. “I mean, I did all of those things a lot after you-know-who messed up my leg, but that was ’cuz my body was usin’ up most of its energy for healing, y’know? Bein’ on painkillers didn’t help.”

“I’m finding it hard to believe _anything_ would make you eat less.” Ann snarked, grabbing another one of the jagariko cups.

“Like you can talk?! Loadin’ up over there on snacks _I_ brought–”

“He also hasn’t been going to his part-time jobs as much.” Futaba piped up before the two of them could get off-topic. “I’ve been watching his location – he used to visit Shibuya and Shinjuku pretty regularly, but nowadays he just heads straight to LeBlanc after school.”

“–wherrre he then just goes to bed. Even Boss is getting concerned at this point.” Morgana finished, listing to the side with a sigh. LeBlanc’s owner had been keeping his nose out of the Phantom Thieves’ business, thankfully, but that didn’t mean he was _blind_. He already blamed himself for Futaba suffering for so long – hell knows he wasn’t interested in letting that happen again, let alone to his other pseudo-adopted child.

“Perhaps he’s simply stressed?” Yusuke offered, securing another cup of jagariko. (He was going through them faster than Futaba was. Did he not eat at all earlier?) “Despite my passion for art, I know the call to sleep feels stronger when I’m approaching a deadline.”

Makoto hummed in acknowledgement. “You have a point. And we’ve certainly had a lot to be stressed over lately. Especially him, considering…”

An uneasy quiet fell over the group as she trailed off, silencing even Ryuji’s constant fidgeting. Despite going over the plan at length, no one was truly at peace with the gamble they’d concocted. Morgana, for all his confidence, still felt himself tense just thinking it over. They’d be completely cut off from Akira for the entirety of it. If the plan failed, they wouldn’t know until long after – and there weren’t any contingency plans to fall back on. It felt like a bad dream, medicine so bitter you almost rethink if you’re sick enough to need it.

Eventually, the silence was broken by Haru’s soft voice.

“Um, forgive me if this is out of line, but–” She paused for a moment, as if mulling over her words. “–is it…possible for Akira to have a mental shutdown?”

“Ooh, plot twist.”

Morgana rolled his eyes at Futaba’s comment – now wasn’t the time to be joking, especially about _that_ – before turning to Haru. “Nope. I might’ve forgotten to mention it before, but someone can’t have a Persona and a Shadow at the same time. And if you don’t have a Shadow, you can’t have a mental shutdown.”

“And ’sides, it’s Akira we’re talkin’ about here. He’s got, like, a bajillion Persona.” Ryuji seemed to relax a bit again with the change in topic, falling back into his fidgeting. His phone’s text tone went off as he spoke, drawing his attention to it. “Oh, one sec, it’s my mom. But yeah, if anyone’s safe from developing a Palace, it’s him. You can check the Metanav if you’re worried.”

Yusuke took on a contemplative look at the blond’s comment, one Morgana knew would immediately precede something that would make Makoto sigh in frustration. The true conversation-derailer. “Hm…if he _were_ to gain a Shadow, do you think he would have one for each Persona?”

(And there was the sigh. Haru seemed intrigued, at least.)

“Er, probably?…maybe?” Ann offered, haltingly. She reached over and scritched behind Morgana’s ears. “What do you think, Mona? You’ve got seniority when it comes to Metaverse knowledge.”

Morgana all but melted at the touch, purring happily. Lady Ann always knew _just_ how to pet him…! “I~iii don’t think so. It already takes a lot of distortion to develop one Shadow, so I can’t imagine how much it would take to have two Shadows at once.”

“Possibly more than a human can produce…”

“Imagine how that boss fight would go, though – it’d be like a horde battle! Though with Joker’s stats, we’d need to level grind a lot before engaging.”

Ryuji laughed at that – a short, surprised thing as he tuned back into the conversation, phone still in hand. “You can say that again! He’d probably have his own battle theme and everything.”

“We’d walk into the final boss chamber and a little title card would pop up, like…‘Akira Kurusu, man of a million Persona’–”

**[ Candidate Found ]**

The Metanav’s robotic, featureless voice was jarring amidst the lighthearted discussion. Abruptly, Ryuji found himself swarmed by the rest of the group; Morgana all but pounced down onto his shoulder to get a better look at the phone screen, shaky as it was in the runner’s grip.

Ryuji was stuttering, and for once, Morgana couldn’t find it funny. “I– I was just gonna show Haru what I meant–!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: goethe effin slaps


	2. FINALLY why did this chapter take so long (Ann)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY GAMERS…HOW'S IT GOING
> 
> A few things real quick:  
**1.** This chapter was originally going to be 3 times as long. I've rewritten it about 5 times. I'm not rewriting it again no matter what we're not looking back lads  
**2.** If you like this AU then go say nice things to tumblr user yiffquius!! This AU literally Would Not Exist without them and also they're cool as heck  
**3.** if you ever leave a comment please know that I DO read all of them and I DO love u

It took a solid ten minutes for the group to reach some semblance of calm again, a feat achieved only because a police officer had come over to see what all the ruckus was about. They’d forced themselves to settle down after that, even if Ann had to dig her nails into her palm to do so.

As soon as the officer was out of earshot, she heard Makoto take a deep breath. “We need to investigate this further.”

“Yeah, no shit!” Ryuji was standing now – he’d stood up as soon as the group had backed off from him. Futaba and Yusuke remained seated, the former scrolling through something on her phone at a breakneck pace. “Mona, you said active Persona-users can’t have Shadows! What the hell’s goin’ on?!”

“Does it look like I know?! This is news to me, too!” Morgana had taken to pacing back and forth on the ground, only pausing to hiss up at Ryuji. Ann nudged him with her foot, and he deflated slightly from his fluffed-up state, sighing. “My best bet is that it has to do with his Wild Card ability. It’s not like we have any background knowledge on it, so…”

“Now all that remains is to figure out his keywords.” Makoto began, taking control of the situation again. Honestly, the student council president was a blessing at times like these. “That should give us an idea as to what we’re dealing with. Ryuji, is it showing up as a location in Mementos?”

“Uhh…nope, doesn’t look like it.”

“So it’s a Palace, then. What are some locations Akira could latch onto enough to become distorted?”

“How about LeBlanc?” Ann offered. It came back negative.

“Shujin Academy?” Nope.

“Shibuya?” Nada.

“The attic above LeBlanc?” Zilch.

“Ain’t that a little too specific…?”

“I mean, mine was specifically my room in Sojiro’s house, sooo…”

“Oh, true.”

“Ugh, who knows? With the way he gets around, it could be anywhere in Tokyo.” Ann sighed, rubbing at her temples before looking back at the phone in Ryuji’s hand. “Maybe even beyond? He used to live in the countryside, right? That complicates things…”

“Indeed. It’s almost an entirely different world from–”

…

“…oh.”

“Wow.”

“Nice job, Inari!”

“The _world_?!”

“Forreal?! That’s massive!”

“So is Shibuya, but Kaneshiro’s Palace was just that floating bank, remember?” Makoto pointed out, tapping on her cheek as she looked at Ryuji’s phone. “Hopefully it’ll be another case like that. Now, onto the distortion…”

-

Half an hour later, they were all sitting against the rails together, stumped. Futaba had slumped into Ann’s side at some point along the line, still scrolling. The hacker had been combing through their chatlogs since the beginning in hopes of finding a clue as to what Akira’s distortion could be, but to no avail.

It was at times like these that Ann remembered how her old babysitter would claim twirling her hair so much would make it fall out faster. Hopefully that turned out to be a lie after all, because she was really giving it hell today. “We tried ‘arcade’ already, right?”

“Yeah.” The others monotoned in unison.

Wonderful. This was the life of the glamorous Phantom Thieves, truly – being framed for murder, planning your leader’s (fake) death, and trying to guess the keywords to unlock that same leader’s cognitive manifestation of distortion. Really, just the greatest.

After a good, long pause, Ryuji slumped his shoulders, looking up from his phone. “So we gonna talk about Akira havin’ a Palace or what?”

Unease settled over the group like an itchy wool blanket, at risk of being thrown off at any moment. It was something they would need to talk about eventually, she had to admit – but that didn’t mean she wanted to. It’d been an easy topic up until now, seeing as all their targets had either been absolute dickheads, or…well, Futaba. This time around, it was more complex. Leave it to Ryuji to suddenly get a little more level-headed when Akira’s safety was involved.

(Ann couldn’t actually judge him. At all. She was the same way with Shiho.)

She felt Futaba curl up a little tighter into her side, and sighed. “It’s weird just to think about.”

“I know, right?! I mean, even if it’s something like Futaba’s where he ain’t actually hurtin’ anyone except himself, it’s still just…” Ryuji made a frustrated noise, gesturing. The movement didn’t convey any coherent information, but the message was clear nonetheless. After a moment, he added in a mutter, “…I’m runnin’ out of battery.”

“Turn off your phone for now then, you might need it later.” Makoto instructed gently, before returning to the topic at hand. “I…agree with Ann. It’s more than a little odd to imagine him having a Palace. If it were just a Shadow in Mementos, I might be able to wrap my head around it, but…”

Morgana caught on to her point almost instantly. “Palaces take much longer to develop than Shadows. So if he has one, he probably had it before he even met any of us.”

“Exactly.”

“To think that the Akira we know may have been an elaborate act all this time.” Yusuke mused. Ann could sense Makoto wither a little, expecting the artist to get the group off-topic again. In all fairness, he probably was about to–

“An act…oh!” Haru clapped her hands together, eyes lighting up. She almost dropped her phone in the process. “Acting! How about a theater?”

**[ Target Located – Beginning Navigation ]**

The group’s collective, surprised cheer was cut off as their surroundings began to warp.

-

Ann blinked as the world came back into focus, her eyes hurriedly trying to adjust to the sudden low light levels.

“Pretty small world, huh?” Futaba snarked, practically up under her arm. “Or maybe this is just the starting level…”

They were in some sort of…cell? It was too shadowy to see too many details, but she could make out a single, barebones bed amidst the gloom, with a toilet jutting out of the opposite wall. The walls themselves had a strange texture to them, resembling the upholstery on an upscale couch – or maybe a padded room, Ann considered with a twinge of worry. The whole room was dyed a deep blue, light pervading what it could from its source beyond the heavy iron bars.

Seeing as it was apparently a one-person cell, it was also cramped. Ann squirmed her way towards the front, giving the toilet as wide a berth as she could. Cognitive or not, she didn’t want to touch it. “Please tell me we’re not locked in here.”

“Uhh…” Ryuji punched the cell door, and the metal creaked in protest as it slowly swung outward. He glanced back at the others with a grin. “Nope!”

They were quick to escape.

The area they emerged into was as dismal as the cell. Ann felt herself shiver as she looked around. The walls on either side of the cell – stone and concrete now, instead of that strange fabric material – seemed to stretch on into the infinite dark. Other cells were neatly arranged along them, though focusing too far into the distance hurt her eyes when she tried. Far, far above, the shadowy ceiling faded into an indeterminate but searing blue – whether it was supposed to be the sky or something else wasn’t clear, but the dark silhouettes of chains could be seen stretching across it.

The only source of light, it seemed, came from the large building looming before them. It was starkly welcoming in comparison to its deep-blue surroundings, comprised of white stone with tasteful golden decorations. Warm, honeyed light seeped through the windows, as though inviting them to come closer.

Normally, that last bit would’ve registered as a warning sign. As it stood, though, investigating the building seemed much more appealing than anything else the cognitive space had to offer.

“Well, this must be the theater! Should we…go in?” Ann suggested, trying to force a brave voice, and wincing internally when it fell flat. The other Thieves seemed to be thinking the same thing, at least. (If she wasn’t so nervous, she might’ve laughed at Yusuke’s reaction to the building – the artist looked positively enraptured.)

“Hold up, should we even be doin’ this?”

Surprisingly enough, it was Ryuji who spoke up. The punk was shifting nervously on his feet as he took in the building. Kind of a weird thing to bring up now that they were already in the Metaverse, but hey, Ann was still having a hard time processing that Akira had a Palace to begin with. “What are you talking about?”

“I mean…this is Akira! He’s not some shitty adult–” He paused for a second, before tacking on, “–or someone who’s asked us for a change of heart. He’s our friend!”

Ann caught Makoto’s brief wince at the words, feeling her heart go out to the other girl. It was probably tough having to deal with her own sister having a Palace… “True, but…that said, shouldn’t we be investigating because he’s our friend?”

“Indeed. If he’s hurting the same way Futaba was, then it’s only natural that we endeavor to help him.”

“Yeah, I guess…” Ryuji relented to Ann and Yusuke’s points, his shoulders slumping. “Still hella weird, though.”

Morgana was the one to nod then, surprisingly enough. “I know what you mean. It feels kind of invasive, and I’m already around the guy constantly.”

Ann grimaced. They weren’t even inside the Palace proper yet, and the ethical dilemmas were already stacking up. She reached down to adjust her gloves – a very Joker-esque habit, ironically enough – only to find them missing. “…oh, we’re still in our normal clothes?”

“You’re just now noticin’?”

Morgana, thankfully, was an infinite wellspring of mercy when it came to her, which is why he was her favorite. Next to Akira, of course. “Yep. Looks like Akira’s Shadow doesn’t perceive us as a threat just yet, wherever he is.”

“Probably inside the theater.” Futaba pointed out, intentionally unhelpful. “Listen, we can make this into a morals and ethics thing, or we can just go through the front door. That’s gotta be the least-sneaky way to approach this, right?”

“Perhaps it would be best to survey the outside of the theater anyway?” Yusuke suggested, finally tearing his attention away from the architecture. Ann almost did laugh, this time – he had just a twinge of a dazed look to his face, as though he’d come out of a trance.

Makoto raised an eyebrow. “To look for alternate access points in case of emergency, or to admire the building?”

“The former, primarily. Though I am certainly not opposed to the latter–”

“Alright, yes, we can look around first.” Makoto cut him off, though he barely seemed to notice. “Oracle, could you go ahead and scan the area? This darkness is…more than a little unsettling.”

“Noooo can do. Necronomicon’s offline.” The navigator announced. She rocked back and forth on her feet, a habit Ann had come to learn meant she was ‘charging up’ for something. “You can feel it, right? There’s not that same buzzing feeling like when we’re in Mementos. Probably because he doesn’t consider us enemies.”

“So…we’re stuck in the dark. Literally.”

“Yup. Just means we gotta do this the old-fashioned way. Scouting mission, gooo!”

“Don’t get too far ahead!” Makoto called out to her as she bounded forth, getting a double thumbs-up in return. She sighed. “Fox, could you please go with her?”

“Right away.” Yusuke scurried off after her, leaving the rest of the group to slowly follow while inspecting the building themselves. (If Ann noticed that Makoto was making a point to stick close to the building’s lights, well, she kept it to herself. She could tease the other girl about her fear of the dark some other time.)

Ann did her best to look for weak points, but really, it was…a lot. It wasn’t outrageously tacky like how Madarame’s Palace had been, at least, but the detail work was still distractingly ornate. For a guy who apparently only owned clothes in neutral colors, it didn’t seem to fit Akira very well. Then again, having a Palace at all didn’t seem to fit him either, did it?

Haru spoke up eventually, pulling her out of her thoughts. “…you know, the more I look at it, the more this place reminds me of the Palais Garnier in Paris. Though, that’s an opera house, not a theater.”

“Paris? That sounds fitting. Akira’s initial Persona is French, isn’t it?” Ann had to think back on it for a moment. She’d been with Makoto when the student council president had insisted on researching the team’s Personas, though most of the info hadn’t stuck.

“Arséne Lupin, one of the oldest gentleman thief characters out there, perfect for the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Heart.” Miss Prez coming in clutch, as always~! Ann beamed at the other girl, but the smile quickly faltered as Makoto’s face fell. “Though now that I think of it, he hasn’t used Arséne in a while, has he…”

“Guuuys! Check this out!” Futaba interrupted, waving them down from not too far ahead. Yusuke was with her, but it seemed he’d been lost to another art trance.

“…is that a fire exit?”

Ryuji let out a short laugh. “Figures his Palace would be up to code.”

“Indeed, the whole structure seems to be finely-made. You can clearly see the blend of French Renaissance and Palladio architecture, and the decorative features speak directly to the extravagancy of the Baroque–” Yusuke paused, shooting Futaba a concerned look as she cleared her throat loudly. “Are you quite alright? If you’re coming down with something, please keep your distance from me.”

Futaba gave her best fake cough this time, directly onto Yusuke.

“Away with you, fiend! Take your germs elsewhere!”

“Enough, you two.” Makoto stepped in between them, physically dragging both back towards the theater’s main entrance. “We have our emergency route located. Let’s head in and see what we’re dealing with here.”

-

The inside of the theater was as welcoming as the exterior, thankfully, illuminated by the soft-gold glow of its many light fixtures. Upon entry, the team found themselves in a vast lobby area, with an imposing, ornate staircase leading further up and into the building. Two smaller staircases flanked it on either side, leading downward, but they were roped off with deep blue cords.

To their right were a couple small rooms, with one appearing to be a gift shop. To their left was a pair of performers, one singing as the other accompanied on piano – they felt oddly out-of-place, but Ann couldn’t quite put a finger on why. Other people were present, too, but they seemed to just be milling around. Ann spotted a few taking photos on the central staircase, as though it were an ordinary photo op.

Morgana followed her gaze. “Huh. Looks like his perception of other people is about as undistorted as Sae’s.”

“Let’s just hope it stays that way…” Ann took another quick glance around the area, but nothing else seemed to stand out. “So, um, now that we’re here…wheeere do we start?”

“Perhaps we ought to question those two?” Yusuke suggested, nodding towards the lobby’s performing duo. “They certainly stand out.”

He wasn’t wrong. The blueish-gray hair was eye-catching, to say the least, as was the deep blue blindfold the man at the piano wore. (Speaking of…wasn’t that the same color blue as the outside area?)

Ann heard Makoto hum from beside her, contemplative. “Maybe. We should wait, though – it looks like they’re in the middle of a song right now.”

“So…what, we’re just gonna wander around?” Ryuji was already shifting from one leg to the other, even though they hadn’t even been standing around that long. “Ain’t that gonna look suspicious?”

“Your _fidgeting_ is what’s suspicious.”

“Oi, like you aren’t fidgeting too! You just attract less attention ’cuz you’re so short.”

“_Hey_–!”

Morgana cut in before they could get going. “Splitting up might be okay for now. I can sense some Shadows around here, but they feel like those passive ones we saw in Sae’s Palace.”

“So we split up, stay in the lobby area, don’t start any fights. All agreed?” Makoto looked around the group for confirmation. When the rest of the team nodded, she pulled out her phone, opening the clock app and setting a timer. “Alright. Let’s regroup here in about…fifteen minutes.”

Ann eyed the gift shop as the group dispersed. Well, if they were just exploring for now…

-

The shop was certainly…something, even if that ‘something’ didn’t exactly translate to _helpful_.

There was a fair bit of Phantom Thief merchandise, most of which Ann had caught sight of before in Shibuya’s underground mall. There was also a good selection of dolls that resembled Personas, though a cursory once-over didn’t turn up any that looked like Arsène, or any other of the team’s unique Personas. Then there was the typical souvenir shop fare – posters, snowglobes, oddly-scented candles, snack foods, the works.

What there wasn’t, though, was a single map of the place. Not even a floor layout! Old, historic-y buildings always had those, didn’t they?

Ann paused at the end of an aisle, sneaking a glance at the Shadow manning the front counter. It had greeted her politely when she’d entered the shop, but hadn’t looked her way since. Instead, it seemed to be preoccupied with the cash register.

“Excuse me,” She slid on her best, photoshoot-quality smile as she approached the counter. The Shadow seemed to be non-hostile, but it never hurt to play it safe. “Hi~! I was wondering, are there any maps of the theater available?”

“Oh…no, we don’t carry those. Sorry.” The Shadow responded absently, tapping on the register’s little LCD screen. It snapped to attention after a moment, though, turning to regard her properly. “If you’re worried about getting lost, though, don’t– well, don’t worry! Staff-only areas should be clearly marked.”

“Oookay? Thanks, anyway–” Right as she was about to head back into the lobby, a bright red-and-white box behind the glass counter caught her eye. _Apollo strawberry chocolates?_

…it…wouldn’t be _that_ bad to buy a little something, right? After all, it was a souvenir shop. And that jagariko hadn’t been very filling, anyway. She started digging her wallet out of her jacket; hopefully the Palace didn’t have its own unique currency. “Hey, actually– could I get a box of the Apollo chocolates?”

“Um…” The Shadow glanced between her and the register a few times, seeming to struggle for words. “Well, uh, the– about that. The register is down right now, and I’m not supposed to make any transactions until it’s back up. So, I can’t exactly check you out at the moment.”

“Aw, really?” Well. There goes that idea–

“Yyyeah, sorry. Though, uh, if you’re really hungry, it…should be okay to just take it? Just the one box though.”

–or not.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it should be okay. I mean, it’s only the one, and they’re not very expensive anyway, you know?” The Shadow rambled as it retrieved one of the boxes, sliding it to her over the counter. “Just, uh, make sure you throw away the box when you’re done, don’t litter, clean up after yourself if you spill any, yadda yadda– I’m sure you know the drill, yeah?”

-

By the time Ann made her way back out of the souvenir shop, some of the others had already begun to regroup. She shoveled down a handful of the candies before heading over to join them, knowing that they wouldn’t last long–

Futaba was under her arm in a heartbeat, having snuck up from behind. “Can I have some?”

–and so it began. She motioned for Futaba to hold out her hand before pouring some of the candies for her. The younger girl immediately shoved them all into her mouth, which was, frankly, a mood.

Makoto eyed the exchange skeptically. “…as interested as I am in where you got that, now isn’t the time to be snacking. We’re supposed to be investigating.”

“Sho?” Futaba took a moment to finish chewing before she continued. “All Inari did was walk around and draw stuff, I watched him.”

“Um, I managed to get a program guide from the information desk. It doesn’t come with a map component, unfortunately.” Haru held out a brochure, unfolding it so that the rest of the group could see.

Makoto’s brow furrowed as she scanned over the listings – with the fanciful font it was done in, Ann could barely read it. “…or intermission times, from the looks of it.”

“Yo. Why’re we all standin’ around out here?”

Ann rolled her eyes as Ryuji casually strolled up to the group, taking a place on her right. She was almost out of candy already… “We said we were gonna regroup, remember?”

“Huh? What’re you talking about?”

“_Seriously_, Ryuji?”

“The hell? I know I’m late, but that doesn’t mean ya gotta yell at me…” Ryuji’s voice came from Ann’s left this time, catching her off-guard. She looked over just in time to see the blond’s face go from annoyed to shocked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Why did you go out of your way to establish that the theater has a fire exit?" well that's just my sexy little secret now isn't it


End file.
